I'm currently writing this blog post in just my underwear, eating Doritos and drinking vending machine Coca-Cola. If I'm going to be spending money on convenience store in attempts to supplement drastic weight loss, by God it's going to be on American products (they're both still owned by American companies, right?!). I've dropped about 12-13 pounds so far, all from walking 5-6 miles a day. Also my tan is slowly fading away, but I still feel like I'm the tannest person in Japan.

Zac and I are currently in Jozankei, 30 minutes outside of Sapporo. The contrast between one of the biggest and most populated cities in the world to the quiet, nestled city of Jozankei has been great for us, BUT I'LL GET TO THAT LATER.

It's been apparent that I haven't updated this blog in a while. I've wanted to, but with hangovers occupying the majority of my blog sessions, I've only had time to edit photos. This blog is going to be a brief summary of our last week in Tokyo. It's been a blur.

At the start of the week, Zac and I had the chance to drink Japan's version of Four-Loko, "Strong Zero". It was 141 yen (about a buck-ten) and 9% alcohol volume. It was disgusting and resulted in a terrible hangover (so, worth it... right?) that lasted well into the next day, where we would eventually meet up with my old foreign exchange from when I was 12, Shuntaro!

It's been over 10 years since we've seen Shuntaro, but he looks exactly the same and is doing very well for himself. We met him at his office in Rippongi Hills, a brand spanking new sky scraper in the middle of one of Tokyo's biggest (and touristy) sections. I UNFORTUNATELY DID NOT BRING MY CAMERA FOR ANY OF THIS. The photograph above is from Zac and I's last day in Tokyo. Shuntaro took us to the top of one of the tallest towers in all of Japan, which was amazing. There is no city that compares in shear size in the United States like Japan. In any direction you really couldn't tell where the city ends.

After Shinturo took us to a Japanese restaurant where we were engrossed in a platter off seafood. Fuck, I really really wish I took a picture of it. It might have been the fanciest platter of any sort of food I've ever had in my life. We had the opportunity to catch up on the last 10 years of our lives while we drank bottle after bottle of sake from Shuntaro's hometown of Hiroshima.

The next day, with a slightly better hangover, the pair of us ventured to Shibuya to see the famed busy intersection and general site-seeing. We happened across a bar wedged into one of the section's many buildings that had English on the sign. The English-style pub was filled with people, noticeably a lot of people who weren't Japanese; it was obvious this place was a tourist bar (hence the English lettering).

A group of salary men asked me to take their picture.

Zac and I bought a couple of overpriced beers and sat next to a couple of English gents, who introduced themselves and instantly startling offering us glass after glass of wine. They were extremely nice and suggestive of places Zac and I should visit while we're in Japan.

We were both given bar napkins with lists filled with destinations and bottle after bottle drained of wine. One of the gents, Ben, then bought a tower of beer for the table and other locals joined us as we drank long into the night.

You can make out a picture of Chris in the back round. He's been living in Japan for over 10 years and apparently is knighted.

As last call rung, Zac and I attempted to make our way home with Ben, the other English gent. The rest of the night we pretty fuzzy for me, but we eventually made it home safely with the help of Ben, and Zac dragging my ass home. It was fun, but a pretty typical night if you're drinking anywhere in the world.

Walking out of the subway station to find a cab with Ben after someone pulled the emergency stop button on the last metro home.

The next day Zac and I decided we wanted to have a quieter night... but still drink. Zac found an air soft gun range + bar. We snagged the last table for the night and ordered our drinks and guns. It was a long wait to shoot, which only lasted a few minutes, but was definitely fun being buzzed and shooting recreations of our favorite guns. I shot a SCAR.

The vast arsenal of guns at the bar.

A picture of my target after we were done shooting. I made several scenarios in where I shot. Even one where the hostage was the bad guy...? I dunno.

The next day we simply stayed in from a long bender of drinking... and ended up drinking sake all night with Riki and Hanzo. It was great talking about our cultural differences, among other things. Staying with Riki was a incredible experience, and Zac and I both are hoping to see him again before we leave Japan. We are actually planning on playing a "survival game" with Riki next week in the forest, where I was told we just shoot each other with air soft guns.

For the rest of the blog I thought I just post a bunch of photos from the week.

Zac and I walking through the local market next door to Riki's house in Akihabara.

Zac making bacon in our one-burner kitchen at Riki's house.

Zac and I wedged in a subway cart. LOTS OF PHOTOS OF ZAC IN HERE.

I nearby restaurant in Akhibara... some of these places feel REALLY old...

The last image I took outside of Riki's house before leaving to the station on our way to Sendai.

Headed down to our high speed train to Sendai.

On the high speed train to Sendai. I took this photo out of the window going nearly 200 miles per hour, I think.

That's pretty much a wrap for the first 10 days in Japan. Like I said, we're in Sapporo now after a long days travel from Sendai (around 8 hours) and are now watching obscure Japanese television. Today we climbed a mountain; I fell on my butt a couple times and found a wizard's staff. I'll update the blog tomorrow... hopefully...